The Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano, Book Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Christo's Tale

CHRISTOPHERUS KRUGER

Christopherus walked alongside Obi-Wan as they marched through the hot desert sunlight. Rex brought up the rear of their procession, with the eopie in between them. It was about and hour after their march had begun, and, according to Ben, his small dwelling was just another few clicks away.

The two boys, who had gotten tired of walking, were seated on the eopie, where they had fallen asleep. Christo used the Force to probe their minds quickly to make sure they were asleep, then addressed the older Jedi Master.

“Master Kenobi, I want to explain a few things to you before Luke and Biggs wake up,” he said, using proper courtesy when talking about or to a Jedi Knight.

“Please, just call me Ben.” His voice was nearly lacking emotion. He clearly wasn’t happy. “And this had better be good. I knew Rex. Not as well as some, but I knew him. And now he’s a Storm Trooper, one of the many bringers of ill news here on Tatooine and elsewhere. You seem like a good person, Mr. Cummings, but I can’t see why you’re associating with–”

“Master – I mean Ben – you don’t know the whole story,” Christo interrupted.

“And? What insight am I lacking?” He apparently hadn’t noticed, in his crossed state, that Christo had been calling him ‘Master’.

Christo took his golden lightsaber from his belt and turned the blade on. Ben froze, staring at the blade. “I’m a Jedi Knight as well as you, Master. And… Have you ever heard of a certain Kal Kruger and Krystalia Kane?”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “I doubt that anyone doesn’t know their story. They both left the order a few months apart, but nobody to this day knows why.”

“I was the reason. My name isn’t Jayl Cummings; it’s Christopherus Kruger,” he said. “In other words, I’m their son.”

The look in Kenobi’s eyes told him that he absolutely had to continue.

“They went on an extended peacekeeping mission on Toydaria many years ago to deal with an imminent civil war. Toydaria was still with the Republic back then, and asked for help to stop the conflict.” He paused to take a breath. “My parents had already known each other for a long time, but that was when they actually fell in love. They married secretly, and I was born a year or two later.

“My father came from a large family, and one of his stepsisters had also recently had a baby. And, because I looked more like my father, they managed to convince the Jedi Council that I was his stepsister’s son. So I received Jedi training.

“I became Mace Windu’s padawan. I only found out who my parents were a little after Order 66, when they found me at in the Temple. The three of us fled to Arcadia, where we hid during the worst of the Jedi Purge. But Vader found us a few years later, and he killed them. I was only fifteen at the time.

“I managed to escape with my life and my lightsaber, along with this.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out a ring on a simple string. “My mother’s wedding ring. I found a ship, and purely by accident I crash-landed on Dagobah. I found Master Yoda there, and he completed my training. He Knighted me when I was eighteen, and from then on I wandered the galaxy in search of enlightenment.”

“But how did you end up here?” Ben interjected.

Christo proceeded to tell him how he had found the New Jedi Order on Cialone, and what had happened since then. However, he omitted saying anything about Anakin’s return. Obi-Wan looked shocked when Christo came to the part where Ahsoka had fallen into the coma, he spoke again.

“She fell into a coma!” he exclaimed. “For three years! That would explain why she didn’t come to see me! Before, she would make a point to visit a few times a year, to meditate and to bring me news. She was my source of information for what was happening beyond Tatooine. That was why I didn’t hear about the Rebel Troopers.”

“Yes. We’ve been making ourselves pretty scarce over the last few years, while we waited for Ahsoka to get better. She actually only woke up two days ago, Cialone time. And we had to leave for Tatooine, so I don’t know how she’s doing…” He trailed off, and Obi-Wan gave him a suspicious look.

“I’ll rephrase my question from earlier: why are you here?” he asked.

“I think it would be better if the man the boys call Hayden told you that himself,” Christo said, deftly evading the question. He glanced up, and saw the cloaked figure of Anakin standing on the rocks above them. Then he disappeared into the shadows.

“Did you see something?” Obi-Wan asked him. Christo turned around and exchanged a look with Rex. He nodded.

They had arrived at his modest home. Ben walked up to the door and unlocked it, and then turned towards Christo again. He was just in time to see Anakin jump down from his spot of the rock face. But he was concealing his presence, and the Jedi Master clearly didn’t know who it was.

Anakin threw off his hood with a flourish. “I think it was me you sensed, my old friend.”

*Anakin has made his entrance! What could happen next? How will Obi-Wan react to seeing his old padawan again in flesh and blood, when he thought that Anakin was gone to the Dark Side and trapped by his own injuries from the fight on Mustafar? And will seeing the man who left him to die wake the Dark Side in Anakin again, or will he stay with the Light? You'll find out in the next chapter of the Unchronicled Adventures of Ahsoka Tano!

Get married to the love of your life even though it's disobeying the Jedi Code and may the Force be with you,

Sharron